Fireside chats

The fireside chats were a series of 30 evening radio addresses given by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (known colloquially as "FDR") between 1933 and 1944. Roosevelt spoke with familiarity to millions of Americans about the promulgation of the Emergency Banking Act in response to the banking crisis, the recession, New Deal initiatives, and the course of World War II. On radio, he was able to quell rumors and explain his policies. His tone and demeanor communicated self-assurance during times of despair and uncertainty. Roosevelt was regarded as an effective communicator on radio, and the fireside chats kept him in high public regard throughout his presidency. Their introduction was later described as a "revolutionary experiment with a nascent media platform."[1]

The series of chats was among the first 50 recordings made part of the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress, which noted it as "an influential series of radio broadcasts in which Roosevelt utilized the media to present his programs and ideas directly to the public and thereby redefined the relationship between President Roosevelt and the American people in 1933."

Roosevelt believed that his administration's success depended upon a favorable dialogue with the electorate — possible only through methods of mass communication — and that this would allow him to take the initiative. The use of radio for direct appeals was perhaps the most important of FDR's innovations in political communication.[2]:153 Roosevelt's opponents had control of most newspapers in the 1930s and press reports were under their control and involved their editorial commentary. Historian Betty Houchin Winfield says, "He and his advisers worried that newspapers' biases would affect the news columns and rightly so."[3] Historian Douglas B. Craig says that he "offered voters a chance to receive information unadulterated by newspaper proprietors' bias" through the new medium of radio.[4]

Roosevelt first used what would become known as fireside chats in 1929 as Governor of New York.[5] Roosevelt was a Democrat facing a conservative Republican legislature, so during each legislative session he would occasionally address the residents of New York directly.[6] His third gubernatorial address—April 3, 1929, on WGY radio—is cited by Roosevelt biographer Frank Freidel as being the first fireside chat.[6]

In these speeches, Roosevelt appealed to radio listeners for help getting his agenda passed.[5] Letters poured in after each of these addresses, which helped pressure legislators to pass measures Roosevelt had proposed.[7]

As president, Roosevelt began making the informal addresses on March 12, 1933, eight days after his inauguration. He had spent his first week coping with a month-long epidemic of bank closings that was hurting families nationwide.[8]:78 He closed the entire American banking system on March 6. On March 9 Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act, which Roosevelt used to effectively create federaldeposit insurance when the banks reopened.[9] At 10 p.m. ET that Sunday night, on the eve of the end of the bank holiday, Roosevelt spoke to a radio audience of more than 60 million people, to tell them in clear language "what has been done in the last few days, why it was done, and what the next steps are going to be".[8]:78–79

The result, according to economic historian William L. Silber, was a "remarkable turnaround in the public's confidence ... The contemporary press confirms that the public recognized the implicit guarantee and, as a result, believed that the reopened banks would be safe, as the President explained in his first Fireside Chat." Within two weeks people returned more than half of the cash they had been hoarding, and the first stock-trading day after the bank holiday marked the largest-ever one-day percentage price increase.[9]

The term "fireside chat" was inspired by a statement by Roosevelt's press secretary, Stephen Early, who said that the president liked to think of the audience as a few people seated around his fireside. Listeners were able to picture FDR in his study, in front of the fireplace, and could imagine they were sitting beside him.[10]:57–58 The term was coined by CBS broadcast executive Harry C. Butcher of the network's Washington, D.C., office,[11] in a press release before the address of May 7, 1933.[12] The phrase has often been credited to CBS journalist Robert Trout, but he said he was simply the first to use the phrase on the air.[13] The title was picked up by the press and public and later used by Roosevelt himself,[12] becoming part of American folklore.[11]

Presentation

Filmed excerpt of the fireside chat on the State of the Union (January 11, 1944),[14] in which FDR discusses a Second Bill of Rights

It is whispered by some that only by abandoning our freedom, our ideals, our way of life, can we build our defenses adequately, can we match the strength of the aggressors. ... I do not share these fears.

Roosevelt customarily made his address from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House. He would arrive 15 minutes before air time to welcome members of the press, including radio and newsreel correspondents. NBC White House announcer Carleton E. Smith gave him a simple introduction: "Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States." Roosevelt most often began his talks with the words, "My friends" or "My fellow Americans", and he read his speech from a looseleaf binder.[11] Presidential advisor and speechwriter Samuel Rosenman recalled his use of common analogies and his care in avoiding dramatic oratory: "He looked for words that he would use in an informal conversation with one or two of his friends."[10]:58 Eighty percent of the words used were in the thousand most commonly used words in the English language.[7]

The radio historian John Dunning wrote that "It was the first time in history that a large segment of the population could listen directly to a chief executive, and the chats are often credited with helping keep Roosevelt's popularity high."[11]

Each radio address went through about a dozen drafts. Careful attention was also given to Roosevelt's delivery. When he realized that a slight whistle was audible on the air due to a separation between his two front lower teeth, FDR had a removable bridge made.[10]:58

FDR is regarded as one of the most effective communicators in radio history.[11] Although the fireside chats are sometimes thought of as weekly events, Roosevelt delivered just 30 addresses[7] during a presidency lasting 4,422 days.[15] He resisted those who encouraged him to speak on radio more frequently, as shown in his response to Russell Leffingwell after the address of February 23, 1942:

The one thing I dread is that my talks should be so frequent as to lose their effectiveness. ... Every time I talk over the air it means four or five days of long, overtime work in the preparation of what I say. Actually, I cannot afford to take this time away from more vital things. I think we must avoid too much personal leadership—my good friend Winston Churchill has suffered a little from this.[10]:319–320

Reception

Letter to the White House following the first fireside chat on the Banking Crisis, eight days after taking office (March 12, 1933)

2232. 78th Street
Brooklyn, N.Y.

March 13, 1933.

Secretary to the President

The White House

Washington. D.C.

Dear Sir:
Being a citizen of little or no consequence I feel the utter futility of writing to the President at a time such as this, but I trust you will accept this letter in the spirit in which it was written.
For me to sit down to write to any public official, whoever he may be, it must be prompted by a very special and appealing occasion or personality. That happened last evening, as I listened to the President's broadcast. I feel that he walked into my home, sat down and in plain and forceful language explained to me how he was tackling the job I and my fellow citizens gave him. I thought what splendid thing it would be if he could find time to do that occasionally.
Needless to say, such forceful direct and honest action commands the respect of all Americans, it is certainly deserving of it.
My humble and sincere gratitude to a great leader. May God protect him.

Respectfully

J.F. Bando

Roosevelt's radio audiences averaged 18 percent during peacetime, and 58 percent during the war.[46] The fireside chats attracted more listeners than the most popular radio shows, which were heard by 30–35 percent of the radio audience. Roosevelt's fireside chat of December 29, 1940 was heard by 59 percent of radio listeners. His address of May 27, 1941, was heard by 70 percent of the radio audience.[10]:240

An estimated 62,100,000 people heard Roosevelt's fireside chat December 9, 1941 — two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor — attaining a Hooper rating of 79, the record high for a Presidential address.[47]
Approximately 61,365,000 adults tuned in February 23, 1942, for FDR's next fireside chat, in which he outlined the principal purposes of the war.[47] In advance of the address Roosevelt asked citizens to have a world map in front of them as they listened to him speak. "I'm going to speak about strange places that many of them never heard of—places that are now the battleground for civilization," he told his speechwriters. "I want to explain to the people something about geography—what our problem is and what the overall strategy of the war has to be. … If they understand the problem and what we are driving at, I am sure that they can take any kind of bad news right on the chin." Sales of new maps and atlases were unprecedented, while many people retrieved old commercial maps from storage and pinned them up on their walls.[10]:319The New York Times called the speech "one of the greatest of Roosevelt's career".[10]:320

Novelist Saul Bellow recalled hearing a fireside chat while walking in Chicago one summer evening. "The blight hadn't yet carried off the elms, and under them drivers had pulled over, parking bumper to bumper, and turned on their radios to hear Roosevelt. They had rolled down the windows and opened the car doors. Everywhere the same voice, its odd Eastern accent, which in anyone else would have irritated Midwesterners. You could follow without missing a single word as you strolled by. You felt joined to these unknown drivers, men and women smoking their cigarettes in silence, not so much considering the President's words as affirming the rightness of his tone and taking assurance from it."[10]:450–451[48]

This level of intimacy with politics made people feel as if they too were part of the administration's decision-making process and many soon felt that they knew Roosevelt personally. Most importantly, they grew to trust him. The conventional press grew to love Roosevelt because they too had gained unprecedented access to the goings-on of government.[49]

Legacy

Every U.S. president since Roosevelt has delivered periodic addresses to the American people, first on radio, and later adding television and the Internet. The practice of regularly scheduled addresses began in 1982 when President Ronald Reagan started delivering a radio broadcast every Saturday.[50]

Accolades

The series of Roosevelt's 30 fireside chats was included with the first 50 recordings made part of the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. It is noted as "an influential series of radio broadcasts in which Roosevelt utilized the media to present his programs and ideas directly to the public and thereby redefined the relationship between the President and the American people."[51]

Further reading

Craig, Douglas B. Fireside Politics: Radio and Political Culture in the United States, 1920-1940. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. ISBN 9780801883125

The Cullen–Harrison Act, named for its sponsors, Senator Pat Harrison and Representative Thomas H. Cullen, enacted by the United States Congress on March 21, 1933 and signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt the following day, legalized the sale in the United States of beer with an alcohol content of 3.2% (by weight) and wine of similarly low alcohol content, thought to be too low to be intoxicating, effective April 7, 1933. Upon signing the legislation, Roosevelt made his famous remark, "I think this would be a good time for a beer."According to the Cullen–Harrison Act, states had to pass their own similar legislation to legalize sale of the low alcohol beverages within their borders. Roosevelt had previously sent a short message to Congress requesting such a bill. Sale of even low alcohol beer had been illegal in the U.S. since Prohibition started in 1920 following the 1919 passage of the Volstead Act. Throngs gathered outside breweries and taverns to celebrate the return of 3.2 beer. The passage of the Cullen–Harrison Act is celebrated as National Beer Day every year on April 7 in the United States.

Easy Allies is an online video game website that includes news coverage, reviews, personality driven gaming videos, short-form comedic series and an internet forum, created by a group of former GameTrailers staff. The website was found to be the 'Most Trusted Publication of 2016' by video game review aggregator OpenCritic.

Elpidio Rivera Quirino (born Elpidío Quiríno y Rivera; November 16, 1890 – February 29, 1956) was a Filipino politician of ethnic Ilocano descent who served as the sixth President of the Philippines from 1948 to 1953.

A lawyer by profession, Quiríno entered politics when he became a representative of Ilocos Sur from 1919 to 1925. He was then elected as senator from 1925–1931. In 1934, he became a member of the Philippine independence commission that was sent to Washington, D.C., which secured the passage of Tydings–McDuffie Act to American Congress. In 1935, he was also elected to the convention that drafted the 1935 constitution for the newly established Commonwealth. In the new government, he served as secretary of the interior and finance under President Manuel Quezon's cabinet.

After World War II, Quiríno was elected vice-president in the 1946 election, consequently the second and last for the Commonwealth and first for the third republic. After the death of the incumbent president Manuel Roxas in 1948, he succeeded the presidency. He won the president's office under Liberal Party ticket, defeating Nacionalista vice president and former president José P. Laurel as well as fellow Liberalista and former Senate President José Avelino.

The Quiríno administration was generally challenged by the Hukbalahaps, who ransacked towns and barrios. Quiríno ran for president again in 1953 but was defeated by Ramon Magsaysay.

Fireman Radio was a limited-run channel on Sirius XM Radio, devoted to the music of Paul McCartney. The channel aired from February 14-March 13, 2009 on Sirius channel 33 and XM channel 27, temporarily pre-empting the soft-rock channel The Bridge.

The commercial-free Fireman Radio was launched in celebration of McCartney's new album, Electric Arguments, and featured music from the records of McCartney himself, Wings, and the three albums created by the Fireman, as well as some surprises. It also featured a new, in-depth interview with McCartney and periodic "fireside chats," where the singer would speak his thoughts on cultural matters like politics, current events, music, and other assorted topics.

Sirius XM also featured exclusive video clips from the McCartney interview on the Fireman Radio website.

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum holds the records of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States (1933–1945). Located on the grounds of Springwood, the Roosevelt family estate in Hyde Park, New York, the library was built under the President's personal direction in 1939-1940, and dedicated on June 30, 1941. It is the first presidential library in the United States and one of the thirteen presidential libraries under the auspices of the National Archives and Records Administration.

Fred Minnick (born August 1, 1978) is a Wall Street Journal best-selling American author who has written seven books. He is noted for having a great whiskey palate, as he’s a judge on the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, World Whiskies Awards and is the former lead American whiskey reviewer for Whiskey Advocate. Minnick has served as the Bourbon Authority for the Kentucky Derby Museum since 2013 and was the bourbon headliner for the inaugural Bourbon & Beyond Festival and curated the Fireside Chats for the Forecastle Music Festival.

Hennepin History Museum is a museum dedicated to the history people and communities of Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The museum provides in house exhibits, history-themed programming, and social events throughout the year.

KIT (1280 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format to the Yakima, Washington, United States, area. The station is licensed to GAP Broadcasting Yakima License, LLC and owned by Townsquare Media. The station features programming from ABC Radio, Fox News Radio and Westwood One.

GAP Broadcasting, owned by Skip Weller, purchased the station in early 2008 from Clear Channel Communications. GapWest was folded into Townsquare Media on August 13, 2010.The transmitter and broadcast tower are located in southern Yakima along West Washington Avenue near the railroad tracks. According to the Antenna Structure Registration database, the self-supporting tower is 63 m (207 ft) tall.KIT-AM was originally licensed to Portland, Oregon, but the station's original owner, Carl E. Haymond, decided, since Yakima had no radio station, that moving the station there would be more advantageous in regards to serving the community and in generating station operating revenue. KIT began broadcasting on 1310 kHz with 500 watts, but later switched to its present frequency of 1280 kHz so it could increase power.

An early children's program on KIT was "Uncle Jimmy's Clubhouse," hosted by James "Jimmy" Nolan, and the news was edited for many years by Pete Wick. During the 1940s and 1950s, KIT's Chief Engineer was Ben Murphy. During the 1950s, a late night disk jockey host was Joe Young, whose program was appropriately entitled "La Casa Jose'" (The House Of Joe).

In November 1926, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) was incorporated. One of the first NBC programs to reach the west coast was the broadcast of the 1927 Rose Bowl Game from Pasadena, California, with announcer, Graham McNamee.

By joining the NBC Radio Network in 1931, KIT had the advantage of associating itself with the network's vast entertainment and news resources.

As the years progressed into the 1930s and 1940s, NBC's and KIT's programming improved. The network was owned by its parent company, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), which also owned the Keith - Albee - Orpheum vaudeville circuit, later renamed Radio - Keith - Orpheum (RKO). RKO handled many vaudeville comedians that were ideally suited for radio. Some of them were Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, Fred Allen, Eddie Cantor, and Fanny Brice, among others.

During the depression of the 1930s, many people could not even afford the admission price of a movie ticket, but they could afford to purchase a radio where they could listen to free entertainment, interspersed with commercial announcements.

Being a dirt farmer during the depression, which required sweating, plowing, and staring at the rear end of a horse all day, and after cleaning up and after eating dinner, what a pleasure it was to sit down and relax, and to listen to KIT and the great radio comedians, and for free.

And since, at the time, there were no FM or television broadcasts, no Internet, no CD players, no IPods, and the like, AM radio was king, and KIT was there, right in the middle of it.

During the dark days of World War II, KIT was there to provide air raid and black out warnings. It was believed that an attack on the west coast of the United States was imminent, so people were warned to turn off their lights, and drape black cloths over their windows, so the expected bombers would see nothing but blackness.

Periodically, KIT, and the other Central Washington radio stations, would go off of the air so the bombers could not use the signals to pinpoint their bomb dropping locations, as they did at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his "Fireside Chats," broadcast from the While House in Washington D.C., used NBC and KIT to reassure the public that everything was safe and under control. People were literally glued to their radio receivers and KIT during this time to get news, any news, no matter how small, concerning the outcome of the war, the safety of themselves, their families, and their country.

Following World War Two, the homecoming G.I.s infused a spark of life and prosperity into the U.S. economy.

In 1942, under the provisions of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, NBC was required to divest itself of its Blue Network, which later became The Blue Network Incorporated, and later The American Broadcasting Company.

As a result of this divestiture and a booming economy, more money was available to NBC to develop better, higher quality programming. In the 1940s, NBC was known as the network of the radio comedians, which gave it the distinction of being the network with the largest listener base. KIT, being an NBC Radio Network affiliate, also shared in this wide listening audience. If one wanted to hear the great radio comedians in Central Washington State, they listened to KIT.

As the years continued into the 1950s, television began to cut inroads into radio advertising revenues and sponsors began the gradual migration from radio to television. As a result, less money was available to support quality network entertainment programming.

Gradually, NBC, and the other radio networks, began dropping large budget entertainment programs in favor of news and information programming. "NBC News On The Hour," and "Emphasis," became the network staples as entertainment programs were slowly phased out.

NBC radio affiliates, including KIT, had the tough decision to eventually lessen, or completely eliminate, their network connections in order to maintain their profit structures. At that time, KIT became a disk jockey station, that is, live hosts playing phonograph records on the air.

Later, when music licensing fees became too difficult to maintain, KIT became a news and information outlet.

At one time, KIT possessed a permit from the Federal Communications Commission to construct a television station in Yakima, but, since another station was already being built at the time, the decision was made not to move forward.

On May 18, 1980, Mt. St. Helen's erupted. The City of Yakima was in direct line with the prevailing winds that morning at 8:32 when the first eruption occurred. In the hours that followed, the massive cloud of smoke and ash blanketed the entire area headed in a north-easterly direction. About 2-3 inches of heavy ash fell on the area causing a widespread problem of dust, making vehicle travel on the roads come to virtually a stand still. Street lights came on it was so dark, the ability to see was down to inches rather than feet. A wide variety of problems surfaced, and the radio station became a news and information clearing house.

At the time the mountain erupted, the lone staff member at the station, Ken Rink, discontinued normal programming and switched to a news/talk format which is what the station does today. He provided news and information while soliciting officials and the community to call the station with eye witness reports. Participants were put on the air live, and within a matter of minutes, that format was used over the next 5 days without commercials.

By 10:00 that morning, the cloud of smoke and ash had covered the area. News and information was coming in at rapid rate. Many people had concerns, questions, and announcements. Some of the station's other staff began to arrive a short time later. In the hours that followed, the experienced staff had established 2 other broadcast rooms to provide support to the main control room with regard to incoming news, interviews, recordings, editing, and production. Some of the staff answered phones and screened incoming calls. Officials were able to get through and were put on the air immediately.

The station later earned an award for its leadership role in the emergency. At that time, the station was owned by Jack Goetz. The news director was Al Bell. Other on-air staff who participated included Brian Teegarden, Dave Hansen and Derek Allen, but it was the late Al Bell who was remembered by the community years after the eruption. Al Bell had served in that capacity since the 60's, and became the news authority on radio in the Yakima area for years.On November 17, 2011, KIT began simulcasting its news/talk format on KQMY 99.3 FM, which was renamed KIT-FM in February 2012.

KIT has a long, illustrious history and has been continuously, and faithfully, serving Yakima, and the Yakima valley, since 1931.

Last Days in Vietnam is a 2014 American documentary film written, produced and directed by Rory Kennedy. The film had its world premiere at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 2014.After its premiere at Sundance Film Festival, American Experience Films acquired the distribution rights of the film, in association with PBS Distribution for DVD releases. The film had a theatrical release in New York City on September 5, 2014 before expanding nationwide in the United States during September and early October. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 87th Academy Awards. It also garnered a nomination for Best Documentary Screenplay from the Writers Guild of America. It premiered on PBS television on April 28, 2015.

The Office of Production Management was a United States Government agency that existed from January 1941 to centralize direction of federal procurement programs and quasi-war production during the period immediately proceeding the United States' involvement in World War II. After the United States formally entered World War II, the War Production Board superseded the Office of Production Management in January 1942 and the office ceased to exist shortly thereafter. It was established and distestablished by Executive Order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The Ski Museum of Maine in Kingfield, Maine, United States, is devoted to preserving and presenting the history and heritage of skiing. The museum has an emphasis on artifacts and documents relating to the state of Maine. In 2009, the museum relocated from Farmington to Kingfield. It is now located on Route 27 in downtown Kingfield, near the historic Herbert Hotel and 15 miles (24 km) from Sugarloaf Mountain.

The club's collection includes approximately three dozen pairs of Maine-made skis that date from the early 20th century, numerous examples of leather ski boots and a variety of accessories.

The museum began informally in 1995 when several members of the Sugarloaf Ski Club were cleaning out the organization's files from the 1950s through 1970s. Lacking space to store the material, and reluctant to destroy it, they suggested creating a museum as a permanent repository.

Several thousand Sugarloaf Ski Club documents formed the original nucleus of the archives. Many of these relate to the founding and early years of Sugarloaf, the state's second busiest ski resort. Another valuable collection of records and newspaper clippings was donated by Walter Melvin; these document several clubs and ski areas in the Bangor area from the 1930s through the 1960s.

The club's collection also includes documents and memorabilia from defunct ski areas such as Big A, in York, and Enchanted Mountain, south of Jackman.

The organization was incorporated in 1999, and in December, 2006, opened its first public exhibit in leased space at 109 Church Street in downtown Farmington: a collection of Maine-made ski equipment, including skis, boots and accessories.

Many of these items were borrowed from the personal collection of Glenn Parkinson, a member of the museum's board of directors and the author of First Tracks, a book that relates stories from the first 75 years of skiing in Maine. Donations of additional items and documents have been arriving weekly since the museum opened.

In early 2009 the museum completed the acquisition of a set of miniature skis that were crafted circa 1905 in Portland, Maine, by Theo A. Johnsen and used by him as a marketing tool for his Tajco brand ski equipment.

Other museum activities include an online archive of vintage photographs, published in cooperation with the Maine Memory Network, a website of the Maine Historical Society.

During the 2008–2009 ski season, the museum inaugurated a series of "Fireside Chats," narrated digital slideshows the depict the history and heritage of Maine skiing from 1870 to the present.

On November 8, 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton participated in the first ever presidential webcast produced by Excite@Home Network in partnership with the Democratic Leadership Council. The forum was held at George Washington University in Washington DC, moderated by DLC chairman, Al From and directed by Marc Scarpa. The webcast made use of the most cutting edge, IP-enabled technology of the time including streaming video remote feeds that connected the President to New Democrat leaders, including Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, then Lt. Governor of Maryland; Donald T. Cunningham, Jr., then mayor of Bethlehem, PA; Wisconsin State Rep. Antonio Riley; Ron Gonzales, then mayor of San Jose, and Jeanne Shaheen, then governor of New Hampshire along with Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen.The webcast was entitled "Third Way Politics in the Information Age", a nod to Clinton's centrist political platform and the burgeoning age of the internet. The President and participants engaged in an online discussion on a range of issues from Medicare to gun control via questions submitted by the online users. 50,000 participants logged on to chat live with the President for 90 minutes (he stayed on for an additional 20 minutes). The webcast was likened to a 21st-century version of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's fireside chats with a similar impact to John F. Kennedy's use of the television broadcast. Clinton, who acted as a proponent of access to the internet and technology for lower income areas, said that the chat utilized, "the most modern technology for . . . old-fashioned communication between the American people and their president." The President recognized the high rate of growth in internet connectivity (1.3 million computers were connected to the internet when he took office as opposed to 56 million connected at the time of the chat) and that the webcast was a new way to connect with people from all across the country and allow them to participate in the democratic process. The broadcast received worldwide media attention and was simultaneously broadcast live throughout the United States on several television news networks including CNN, MSNBC and NBC.

In 2005, the historical participatory media event was inducted into the permanent collection of the Clinton Presidential Library, in Little Rock, Arkansas and is the first Internet-age broadcast in a Presidential library.

The event has stood the test of time, as a model for real-time political communication between the President and voters.

The Van Wickle House, also known as the Symen Van Wickle House, is a historical house located at 1289 Easton Avenue in the Somerset section of Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. It was built in 1722 by Symen Van Wickle, also known as Symen Van Wicklin. The house, historically known as The Meadows, was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 4, 1973.

The Weekly Address of the President of the United States (also known as the Weekly (Radio) Address or Your Weekly Address) is the weekly speech by the President of the United States to the nation. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first U.S. president to deliver such radio addresses. Ronald Reagan revived the practice of delivering a weekly Saturday radio broadcast in 1982, and his successors all continued the practice until Donald Trump ceased it.

As the Internet became mainstream during the 1990s, the weekly address was made available on other media. George W. Bush introduced an audio podcast feed and Barack Obama introduced a weekly video address during his presidential transition period. Donald Trump continued the weekly video address for the first nine months of his administration, after which he put the address on hiatus. He later released occasional "weekly" addresses before discontinuing the tradition entirely in June of 2018.

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